After Manager Wu left, Yan Qingqing's face darkened further. She knew that she would encounter this kind of situation on the road to doing business, but she did not expect that there would be someone who betrayed her so early.

Yuan Huiniang cautiously asked, "Mother, was it Liu who did it? Should we report it to the authorities?"

Yan Qingqing shook her head and said, "It's not necessary for now. We don't have any evidence, and such a large-scale operation doesn't seem like something the Liu family would do."

"Keep a close eye on Liu. If it really is her, then don't hold back."

Yan Qingqing felt that the root of the problem was with Manager Wu. Jinsheng Pavilion had a large business and many enemies in the business world. Who knows who might be jealous?

However, Liu Shi clearly also had problems. Yan Qingqing wanted to resolve the issue once and for all and didn't want to leave any hidden dangers for herself. So from that day on, she had Yuan Huiniang keep a close eye on Liu Shi and temporarily stopped mentioning letting her leave.

After breakfast, Li Xiang'an went to the city to deliver goods, while Li Xiangping and Li Xiangjian went to the mountain to pick fragrant leaves. Yan Qingqing thought about it and followed them.

Her belly is getting bigger now, and it will be inconvenient for her to go up the mountain in a while.

Since Yan Qingqing was in such a good mood, Li Xiangping and Li Xiangjian didn't stop her.

The three walked and talked. When they passed by their own fields, Li Xiangping went into the field, grabbed a handful of soil, looked at it, and said with worry, "Since the wheat harvest, it hasn't rained at all. If this continues, even if the crops are planted, they won't sprout."

Chengyang County had a pretty good first half of the year, with favorable weather and abundant harvests. However, since the wheat harvest, the county has experienced a significant drought, and even the water level of the Cang River has dropped considerably.

Experienced farmers who have been farming for many years are hesitant to plant seeds blindly, fearing that if the crops don't grow, the seeds will be wasted. After all, seeds are quite expensive these days.

Yan Qingqing looked up at the sky, then at the ground, and murmured, "It should rain soon."

Li Xiangjian asked curiously, "Mother, how did you know?"

There's no weather forecast now; she's just making judgments based on the knowledge she learned in her previous life.

The clouds in the sky were particularly thick, and the swallows and small flying insects were flying very low, indicating that the air was quite humid.

However, even weather forecasts can be inaccurate sometimes, so Yan Qingqing didn't make any absolute statements. If she could even predict the weather, people would think she was a monster.

However, she didn't intend to teach her two sons about this, so she said with a smile, "I was just guessing. I dreamt about rain last night."

Li Xiangjian laughed and said, "Mother, you're just dreaming about what you've been thinking about during the day."

Li Xiangping glanced at Yan Qingqing and said, "I think Mother's judgment is correct. I heard some old people in the village discussing it the other day, saying that it might rain in the next few days."

Yan Qingqing didn't want to bring up the topic anymore, so the three of them buried their heads and walked up the mountain.

Li Xiangjian nimbly climbed the tree, while Li Xiangping stood below to help.

Seeing that she couldn't be of much help, Yan Qingqing wandered around the area.

It's said that those who live near the mountains live off the mountains, and those who live near the sea live off the sea, but apart from bay leaves and woad, Yan Qingqing really hasn't gotten any benefits from the mountains.

While others who venture into the mountains either find ginseng or lingzhi mushrooms or have some extraordinary adventure, she can only pick wild vegetables and mushrooms.

Perhaps she wasn't destined to be the female lead. Yan Qingqing sighed and resignedly rummaged through the bushes, hoping that good luck would come her way, but Yan Qingqing was destined to be disappointed.

After picking a few kinds of wild vegetables, she resignedly sat down on the ground and watched her two sons working tirelessly, one up in the tree and the other under it.

Yan Qingqing thought to herself that having these children wasn't bad; perhaps they were her greatest treasure.

While lost in thought, Yan Qingqing felt her belly move slightly. She was immediately confused, wondering if it was fetal movement.

Yan Qingqing hadn't felt anything during her pregnancy, but the fetal movement she felt just now made her truly feel the presence of the child.

Logically speaking, this child was her first real pregnancy, so you can imagine how excited Yan Qingqing was.

Then her stomach moved again, and Yan Qingqing excitedly stood up and touched her stomach with her hand.

Yan Qingqing's action startled Li Xiangping, who was standing under the tree. He asked nervously, "Mother, what's wrong?"

Seeing Li Xiangping's reaction, Yan Qingqing said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's nothing, I just felt my belly move. It's probably the baby moving."

This is something she should share with her husband, but she's a widow now.

At that moment, Li Xiangping felt that Yan Qingqing had really had a hard time. She didn't have a man by her side and still had to worry about her and her siblings. It was at that moment that Li Xiangping decided that no matter what happened in the future, he would never go against Yan Qingqing's wishes, and he would never allow his younger siblings to go against Yan Qingqing's wishes either.

Yan Qingqing wasn't unaware of the pity in Li Xiangping's expression, but she didn't take it to heart at all. What was there to pity about her? She didn't rely on a man to live.

Li Xiangping and Li Xiangjian worked very efficiently, quickly picking two large baskets of fragrant leaves, which should last them a long time.

A few days later was the harvest banquet hosted by the county magistrate, and Li Xiangping and the others got up very early to start braising pig offal.

The offal they bought was the freshest available, because they needed so much that they had to visit several butcher shops to get it all.

To prevent the pig offal from spoiling, Li Xiangping soaked it in freshly drawn well water, and got up several times throughout the night to change the water.

Soon, a fragrant aroma filled the air above Canghe Village, and the villagers, even in their sleep, knew that Yan Qingqing's family was making braised meat again.

However, while they were envious, this time they were more proud, since Yan Qingqing's family's braised offal had caught the eye of the county magistrate.

As dawn broke, Li Xiangping and the others had finished braising the pig offal. Since Yan Qingqing couldn't come out in person, she had someone explain to the others what to pay attention to.

After they left, Yan Qingqing had nothing to do, so she strolled around the village.

Living in Canghe Village, she definitely needs to stay informed about what's happening in the village.

The best place to learn about the Eight Trigrams is under those big willow trees at the entrance of the village.

Yan Qingqing rarely has such a leisurely time. Several old women at the village entrance saw her and quickly invited her to come and sit down.

One of them said, "Oh, Qingqing, you're four months pregnant, right? Is it a boy or a girl? Have you had a doctor check your pulse?"

If you want to gossip about someone, you have to let them gossip first. Yan Qingqing patiently chatted with her, saying, "No, why waste the money? It doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl."

Another person said, "Yes, sister-in-law, you are so lucky. You already have a son and a daughter, so it doesn't matter what this baby is."

After Yan Qingqing generously let them finish gossiping, they started gossiping about other people.

Finally, Yan Qingqing learned through gossip that Li Erdan had given all the money he saved from buying pig offal to his lover, but she didn't know who his lover was.

Aunt Wang's son, Wu Gang, had a relationship with a girl from the next village, but the relationship fell through because of the dowry.

Aunt Wu's two sons got into a fight over the family property.

…………

This information might seem useless at first glance, but Yan Qingqing memorized it all. It will be helpful for her future recruitment and staffing.